Campus Compact is pleased to announce that Maranda C. Ward, Ed.D., MPH, assistant professor and director of the Equity Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been awarded Campus Compact’s Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement. The award, presented in partnership with Brown University’s Swearer Center, recognizes early-career faculty who practice exemplary engaged scholarship through teaching and research. Recipients are selected on the basis of their collaboration with communities, institutional impact, and high-quality academic work.
Ward is recognized for her work in advancing anti-racism efforts within health professions education and in designing curricula to enable students and faculty to competently promote health and racial equity in practice. Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and antiracism educational interventions as well as community-focused studies on HIV, Black women's health, and youth identity.
"As a community-engaged scholar and practitioner, she signifies to me her capacity for empathy, critical thinking, and reflection—requisite skillsets for a promising, and adaptable, practitioner working with diverse communities on cross-cutting issues impacting their personal and community health,” said Jane Wallis, executive director of Grassroots Health in Washington, DC in a letter nominating Ward for the award.
“Dr. Ward’s passion and expertise in both her teaching and scholarship are clearly reflected in the impact she has had in issues of community health,” said Bobbie Laur, Campus Compact president. “She is a shining example of how to move forward the kind of inclusive, collaborative, and solution-oriented work that is recognized by the Lynton Award. We are proud to recognize her with this award.”
The Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement is presented as part of Campus Compact's Impact Awards, which recognize the outstanding work of individuals and institutions in pursuit of the public purposes of higher education. Read more about the other awards and this year's recipients here.
The recipients of these awards will be recognized at Compact25, Campus Compact’s annual conference, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from March 31st - April 2nd, 2025.